How to Change the Search Bar in the Upper Right Hand Corner

Google and Yahoo! are both popular websites, but these search engines aren't always the most efficient way to find what you're looking for on the Internet. The toolbar along the top edge of your web browser probably contains a "search bar." You can customize this search bar to provide quick access to your preferred search engines. For example, if you often browse the latest auction listings on eBay, you can change the search bar to search eBay's website directly. You can also modify the search bar to add some of your favorite search engines to it.

Things You'll Need

Web browser

How to Change the Search Bar in the Upper Right Hand Corner

Open your Internet browser and locate the search bar, which is generally found in the upper right-hand corner of each browser window. The search bar often contains a small magnifying glass icon, located on the right-hand side in Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox, or on the left-hand side in Apple's Safari browser. In Google Chrome, the entire location bar itself doubles as a search bar.

Click on the small triangle that points downward on the right- or left-hand side of the search bar to access a menu of search engines available for you to use. (In Google Chrome, use the second button on your pointing device to click--or "right click"--in the blank area of the location bar. On an Apple Macintosh computer, you may also hold down the "ctrl" key in the lower left-hand corner of your keyboard as you click within the location bar.)

Select the search engine you want to use for your next search or searches. Scroll down the list and then click on the search engine of your choice.

Add search engines to the list by clicking on "Manage Search Providers ..." in Microsoft Internet Explorer, "Manage search engines ..." in Mozilla Firefox or "Edit search engines ... " in Google Chrome. This will open a new window where you may be able to adjust the order of search engines in the search bar menu, perhaps ranking each one by how often you use it. For example, if you rarely use a website for searches, you may want to move it down toward the bottom of the list. You can also move the search engine you use most often to the top of your search bar's drop-down menu.

To add search engines to the list, click on "Find more search providers ... " in Microsoft Internet Explorer, "Get more search engines ... " in Mozilla Firefox or the "Add" button in Google Chrome. Add search engines you commonly use to the list. (Adding search engines to Apple's Safari browser requires downloading and installing a third-party web browser plug-in.)